Coasters that you like or dislike despite their layout

[Matt N]

Hi guys. When reviewing a coaster and determining how much you like it, the layout itself and its objective strength is mostly one of the most major considerations. But I’d be intrigued to know; has there ever been a time where you’ve ridden a ride that has a somewhat weak layout on paper, but you still loved the ride experience despite the weaknesses of the layout itself? Or have you ridden a ride with a really strong layout on paper that does little for you when you actually get on it?

In terms of my nominations for this thread, both of mine actually come from Alton Towers.

A coaster that I like despite not necessarily having the greatest of layouts is Wicker Man. On paper, the ride isn’t overly long, and while there’s sections that still look great on paper like the s-bend drop, some sections like the unbanked u-turn and the unbanked section towards the end don’t look like they would ride particularly well. There also doesn’t look to be a huge amount of potential airtime moments. But when I actually ride Wicker Man, none of this means anything to me. I still love it; the pacing is phenomenal, there’s buckets of airtime and fun transitions, it feels longer than you’d expect, and even the sections that don’t look like they would ride so well on paper are still great fun, in my opinion!

A coaster that I’m not a fan of in spite of its strong layout is The Smiler. On paper, I’m a huge fan of Smiler’s layout; it’s an engineering marvel and a work of absolute twisted genius, in my opinion. For a coaster with 14 inversions, I think it feels surprisingly varied, with many different elements and lots of different sensations on offer; there’s even a few great pockets of airtime! But when I actually ride it, I almost think it’s a touch too intense; a bit too much to handle, in a way. The roughness also hugely takes away from it for me.

But are there any rides that you like or dislike despite their layout?

 

[Christian]

I like a lot of coasters with bad layouts. But two immediately come to mind:

Fiorano GT Challenge at Ferrari World: This is a duelling Maurer launched coaster that stays very low to the ground. Both sides are almost identical and they duel all the way. It starts with a small drop out of the station and then it runs through an about 1000m course with 4 pretty weak LSM launches and a lot of turns. On paper there is nothing interesting with this ride, it pretty much does nothing. I love this thing because it is so different from everything else in the park. After riding extremely intense coasters like Formula Rossa and Flying Aces this thing is perfect to relax. It is really fun to duel in a more relaxed way and it feels exactly like driving a car. It is really hard to to explain why I love it so much.

Superman: Escape from Krypton at Six Flags Magic Mountain: Everyone knows what this coaster does, it is pretty much a backwards drop tower. It has a powerful backwards launch and goes up a spike and then down again. The restraints are very restricting, it's like putting your arm in a box (super weird thing). The launch isn't the best but there is one thing that is fantastic with this ride. It is the slight moment and the view that you get when you are at the top. Blink and you will miss it, it's less then a second. But that view and the feeling that you will fall down face-first are incredible, especially at night. Go to this ride about 10 minutes before the park closes when there is no line and ask the ride op if you can lap it. Most have said yes and you will be able to get about 5 rides on it. If one ride op says no ask the other one.

Usually coasters with great layouts that are bad are due to age and poor maintenance which have made the rides very rough. The notable exceptions are SLCs. The layout is great on paper and the ride is very compact and forceful. The problem is that they are horribly made and are probably the most uncomfortable things knows to us enthusiast.

 

[Edward M]

Can we admit that X2's layout is kind of poor, especially when compared to the S&S 4th Dimensional coasters in Asia. Ya, that drop and those two raven turns are incredible, but the rest of it just kinda, meanders. Still, as an experience, it's just unbelievable. I'd say both American Space Mountains (especially my beloved WDW version <3) show just how much presentation can help a relatively simple layout. Then, there's good old Top Thrill Dragster. Ya go up, then down, but you do it really really fast. Missing the most obvious Beast here as well, nothing but straight track and some turns, besides that insane helix. However, the environment does everything for that ride.

As for one's I dislike despite a good layout, Green Lantern (SFGAdv) comes to mind. It's got a classic B&M looper layout with some huge elements, but the stand up trains and general roughness make it bleakly unpleasant. Nighthawk has the typical Flying Dutchman layout, which I quite like, but the actual experience was thoroughly unpleasant. Also, just across the pathway at Carowinds, Intimidator, which hit every beat a B&M Hyper should yet left me with basically no airtime.